City to consider sewer rate hike
Money would help pay for system upgrades
According to the City Council's projections, the city would add gradual price increases over the next five years, taking the current sewer rate of $12.50 to $26.75 by 2013.
The money would help increase capacity at the city's sewage plant."If we don't increase the plant we stop growth, all growth," Councilman Pierce Conley, Ward 2, said at the June 26 city council workshop meeting.
Assistant City Administrator Greg Smothers said in an interview the City Council will decide whether to increase the rate after a 30 day public comment period required by law.
Smothers said the comment period would begin when the council formally posts an announcement of the proposed hike.
With the proposed changes, Smothers said, the plant could increase its capacity up to 15 million gallons per day, providing service to an additional 13,500 homes.
In an interview after the meeting, Smothers said modernizing and repairing the current plant, which was built in the 1970's, would be less costly than building a new facility.
"We can use our existing facility and do it for 10 million dollars as opposed to $40 million," Smothers said.
Some of the improvements suggested in the report include a replacement of the Peruque Creek Lift Station at $2.5 million, a replacement for the West Lift Station force main at $2.58 million and an additional UV train at a cost of $1 million.
A lift station is basically a sewage pump. A UV train disinfects sewage using ultraviolet light.
A force main is a discharge pipe used to move sewage out of a pumping station.
In related news, on June 24, the city lifted a year-long moratorium on sewer hook-ups after the Missouri Department of Natural Resources approved a request by the city to increase the amount of sewage it treats.
Following a review, the Department of Natural Resources determined the sewer system had improved its treatment capabilities from 10 million gallons to 11.25 million gallons per day, according to city spokesman Tom Drabelle.
Several businesses denied access to sewer service by the City of O'Fallon sued and won, forcing the city to increase its waste water treatment capabilities.
There are 21 businesses that formally requested sewer hook-ups prior to the lifting of the moratorium, City Engineer Steve Bender said, including Lake St. Louis' upscale shopping center, The Meadows.
Smothers said the city spent more than $3 million to bring the plant up to its current rate of capacity and lift the hook-up ban.
The expense has depleted the city's reserves, Smothers said.
"The reserves are down to a level that we can't do what we want to do," Smothers said.
